


Healing Grace

by wolfiefics



Series: The Ashante Vende Stories [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Jedi Apprentice Series - Jude Watson & Dave Wolverton, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-31 18:09:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21149984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfiefics/pseuds/wolfiefics
Summary: Qui-Gon's master, Ashanti Vende, has a conversation with him after the fall of Xanatos.





	Healing Grace

**Author's Note:**

> Like all my Star Wars stories, written between 2000-2004. I created Ashanti Vende before Count Dooku made an appearance and was declared Qui-Gon's master. I'm not a Dooku fan, so I ignore that reality and accept my own. There are other stories with Ashanti, never fear, that will explain her in more detail.

"Qui-Gon Jinn!" He paused, turning around at the call of his name. He didn't recognize the student rushing toward him, a small petite male, who looked as if he were part human and part something else. His skin was a bronze color from some sun tanning and his eyes were a rich brown. His hair was short in the traditional cut of a student but as the boy drew closer, Qui-Gon could see a two level padawan braid hanging down to the boy's right shoulder.

"I am Qui-Gon Jinn," he rumbled, not really wishing to speak with someone else's padawan. He had enough of the pitying stares and the not so obvious thoughts of "what did Master Jinn do wrong?" for the day. He only wanted to go to his assigned quarters, shower and meditate.

"Yes, sir, I know. My master bade me to find you before you left." The boy was panting by the time he reached the towering human.

"I am going to my quarters. I do not leave for sometime." Qui-Gon frowned at the boy's wide-eyed expression. He seemed familiar somehow.

"Please, sir, she insists on seeing you. Currently she is in council with Master Yoda but she asks you to meet her in the practice arena in two hours time." The boy, no more than thirteen years of age, tipped his head to one side. "She said if you ask her name, she'll be given sound reason to box your ears."

"Ashanti," Qui-Gon sighed, knowing without a doubt his former master was up to her usual tricks.

The boy nodded vigorously. "You must be Hajii Kalumn then." The boy nodded again, this time with a pleased smile. "A pleasure to meet you, young padawan. You are getting on well with Ashanti?" Qui-Gon relaxed. Ashanti sang the boy's praises every time Qui-Gon spoke with her. The boy could do no wrong, near as Qui-Gon could tell. He half-wondered if Ashanti had sung his praises to others when he was absent from her side those years ago.

"Tolerably. She's very," the boy paused, searching for a polite way of describing his master.

"Free-spirited?" provided Qui-Gon. The boy chuckled and then looked abashed. Qui-Gon patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I often felt the same way you do. She's quite flighty, but she will train you well."

Hajii's eyes beamed his pleasure. "It is an honor to speak with you, Master Jinn," the boy gushed to Qui-Gon's amusement. "You are one to be admired."

Qui-Gon gave him a sharp look and then forced himself to relax. The boy meant no harm in the statement and though currently Qui-Gon disagreed with his opinion, he refrained from correcting him. After all, Clea Tari turned out fairly decently.

No, she turned out marvelous.

Damn Xanatos.

Guilt washed over him in waves. Xanatos wasn't all to blame. Qui-Gon was as well, and he knew it.

Hajii watched the myriad of emotions cross the master's face. He doubted Jinn knew how obvious his feelings were, but refrained from commenting upon it. Ashanti had warned him of Qui-Gon's prickly nature. The torment in the man's eyes, the hurt within his soul that Hajii could feel in the Force was heartbreaking, and Hajii vowed he would never give Ashanti reason to feel so.

Qui-Gon gave the boy an amused look. He had just spoken out loud and Qui-Gon doubted he knew it. Something about never giving Ashanti a reason to feel betrayed. Qui-Gon ruffled the boy's hair, bowed to him and left the teen standing there with a bemused expression.

Hajii turned back the way he came and sped as fast as he could to his master's side. Ashanti would be pleased he'd done his job.

* * *

Qui-Gon stood in the practice arena, memories flowing over him. It was here that he learned that Ashanti would take him as her apprentice. It was here that he had studied so hard, perfecting the skill of the lightsaber, an elegant weapon known throughout the galaxies as a Jedi's weapon. It was here that he watched his first apprentice prove herself to him.

He smiled a wistful smile. Clea had been determined to get his attention. Yoda confided later that she had learned of his search for a padawan and had insisted on extra training. Qui-Gon had been flattered that a student would work so hard for the attention of a knight who had never had a padawan before.

Clea Tari had been perfect for him as his first apprentice and he would always treasure the memories of the two of them.

Xanatos was a different story. Qui-Gon brought Xanatos to the Temple. He had patiently waited for the time when he could take the boy as his padawan. He had looked forward to teaching such a promising student.

Xanatos had been radically different from Clea. Where she was easy-going and good-natured, Xanatos was tough and serious. Clea had joked with her master, becoming a sister to the human Jedi. Xanatos became his son, respecting him and trying to impress him the way an heir tries to do for his sire. The differences in them were what Qui-Gon enjoyed. He learned from each padawan, expanding his own methods and skills to accommodate them. He learned technical things that he never learned from his own master from Clea. From Xanatos he learned restraint and an infinite amount of patience.

Clea remained loyal.

Xanatos betrayed him.

Qui-Gon was crushed. His heart felt hollow. He had trouble connecting with the Force, so strong was his anger against himself. He should have protected the boy. He should have reined in his own ego and pride to see that the boy was headed down a dark path. Many Jedi were hard or cynical, but they still used their strong belief in hope and the light within themselves to do what was right, what was just.

Xanatos had embraced his fate. Qui-Gon understood that and accepted it. There was nothing to be done for the boy. Hope was lost when Xanatos promised his master that the time for revenge would come. A Jedi never sought revenge, never sought retribution. A Jedi's path was peace, truth and justice.

Qui-Gon couldn't accept the fact that no matter how observant or more attuned to Xanatos he could have been he could not have stopped it all before it even began.

"Could have, would have, should have. Why waste time on the past, Padawan, when there is still so much future to live?" Ashanti's voice, cheerful and welcoming, washed over him, bringing a smile to his face. He turned to her, watching her impish smile turn into a frown. "You lost weight. And your hair is going gray."

He cocked his head at her at the unnecessary comment. He had long grown used to Ashanti's motherly statements. As far as she was concerned, he was her son in every way but blood. She had known his parents long before his birth, had saved him from his plague-ravaged home planet, bringing him to the Jedi for training and eventually taking him as her own padawan. He had been her son and she had been his mother.

He couldn't think of her as anything else, but to tell her so would cause a maelstrom of emotion he just wasn't up to handling right now.

Her tail looped around his wrist affectionately when she brushed by him. "I thought we might spar for old time's sake," she suggested slyly. He just looked at her. There was more. With Ashanti, there was always more.

"And?" he prompted when she didn't continue.

Her lightsaber powered up a dark purple in her hands and through the purple glow he saw her face tilt in a smile. "And what?"

"This is it?" His own green lightsaber shot forth from the handle.

"Your blade is green now," Ashanti noted, changing the subject.

"I lost the last one sometime ago and this crystal seemed to call out to me." Qui-Gon offered the only explanation he could give. "What are you up too?"

She gave him an innocent look. "Nothing. You'd think we were going gelp hunting the way you act. Get a grip, Padawan!" She brandished her saber in a flashy motion that totally unimpressed him, as did her words.

Gelp resided on various water planets and were well known for knowing were the gelp hunters were long before the hunters knew where it was. Gelp were rarely seen. And besides, Ashanti hated water, making it all a moot point.

"Hush and fight," he told her. She pounced. He dodged. The two fought up and down the arena for a good five minutes before Ashanti used her species' natural tendency to stick to things. She launched herself high in the air and attached herself to the ceiling, fighting upside down for a moment, then climbed down the wall. Qui-Gon grimaced. He hated fighting her this way, but one never knew what an opponent would do and such strange circumstances could always come up. One had to be prepared, after all.

Sweat trickled down his neck and his head began to pound. He could not tap into the Force. The effort of trying to do so was exhausting. Ashanti's tricks and stunts were becoming harder and harder to predict. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

Ashanti noticed this and her expression turned grim. His despair and desperation were obvious, as was his loss of his tie to the Force. His self-pity and self-blame was the cause and the only way she knew he would understand it was to beat it into him. Only then would the doubts leave and his confidence be regained.

Her lightsaber whacked him lightly in the shoulder. The sizzle of singed material and his grunt of pain were the only indications of her hit. His eyes flew open and the blue of those eyes turned to steel. Anger boiled inside him, not at her, she knew, but at himself. She gave his other shoulder a tap. He moved to block it a second too late.

His rage was growing inside at such a quick pace that it alarmed him. Ashanti seemed perfectly collected and calm. He struggled with his anger, for it worried him. Ashanti moved to make a third blow and he powered down his lightsaber.

Hers screeched to a halt mere centimeters from contact and the purple blade retracted into the ribbon-bedecked handle that was her trademark. "Why did you do that?" she demanded hotly.

He shook his head, wishing he could speak, but the words would not come forth. His head continued to pound, the pressure increasing. It traveled down to his lungs, making his breathing labored. It was a struggle to intake air. His mouth worked, gasping for the needed oxygen, and the sound of waves drowned out Ashanti's worried voice.

Ashanti sighed when Qui-Gon fell to his knees. No doubt he felt like hell. Anxiety attacks and self-recrimination did that to one, she knew from experience. She began to talk to him soothingly, but unable to keep the concern and worry from her voice. His gasps were painful to hear let alone to see. Tears streamed down his face and he was doubled over from the pain.

She knew he would have to get through this but she'd be damned if he'd do it alone. Yoda had not let her do it alone and she would not let Qui-Gon do so either. He was family and she stood by family.

The shuffling of feet caught her attention and she glanced up to see Ki-Adi-Mundi watching with shuttered eyes. Ashanti and he had been Yoda's padawans, Ki-Adi following her in training order. They were like brother and sister, each knowing what the other was feeling, if not thinking. Yoda had faith in both of them, his surviving padawans, and when he could not be there for them, they would be there for each other.

Ki-Adi was there for her now. It was reassuring. Ashanti nodded to him, letting him know it was all right so far. He nodded back, his white ponytail hanging from the top of his tall, elongated cranium swinging at the motion. Ashanti watched as he walked away, knowing that he would be within calling distance if needed.

She strengthened her resolve and pulled Qui-Gon into her lap. Though the human was two and a half feet taller and Quizia only knew how much heavier than she, he seemed to fit comfortably. The gasps for air turned to silence but she continued to pat his back and knead his shoulders. "The pain will fade, Qui-Gon. The betrayal will cease to matter, I promise you. Learn from it. Learn from it."

Qui-Gon heard the words repeated over and over in Ashanti's soft voice. His head still throbbed but he could take a breath without effort now and her massaging of his muscles was making him relax. He drew in a ragged breath, catching the scent of her, comforted by the naturalness of her. Ashanti always smelled of nature, of trees, of cleansing rain and of exotic spices.

Ashanti stopped crooning, stopped rocking and stopped reassuring him. The time had come.

"It's not your fault." Her voice cracked out like a whip in the silence.

He stiffened and pulled away from her. "How would you know?" he asked scathingly.

Ashanti's teal eyes blazed at him, causing him to pause. "Because Qui-Gon Jinn is not to blame. The Force told me so. Xanatos is at fault. How do you stop someone from hating? How do you stop one from becoming greedy or vengeful? You don't." She shook her head at him when he began to speak. "Let me finish. The choice was his, Qui-Gon. You cannot change this anymore than you can stop the orbits of planets or the Force from existing."

"And you know this from personal experience?" he asked sharply, still feeling the pain acutely.

"Yes. I blamed myself for Drad's death, you see. So much so that I did the same thing you've just done. And Yoda comforted me in the same way I comforted you." She paused and smiled down at him. He knew who she referred to, the knight she had loved and lost in a horrific mission. "Do you see anything more than a self-assured knight who knows without a doubt what her path is?"

His shook his head, rubbing the tears away angrily. Ashanti's mind superimposed a pouting two-year-old Qui-Gon in her mind. He had been deprived of a toy and had been most angry about it. The expression was the same. "You have always known yourself and the path the Force makes for you," he admitted.

She looked at him idly. "You did too, once upon a time. What happened?"

Qui-Gon shot to his feet, his blue eyes agonized. "Surely you've heard! Xanatos turned from my teaching. I failed him and I failed myself. I'm not worthy to teach anyone else. I'm not good enough!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He lapsed into silence, surprised at his outburst.

"I think Clea would have something to say about that," Ashanti informed archly. "I know I do, but I'll spare you that opinion." She picked up their dropped lightsabers and handed him his. "I have a suggestion, one very similar that Yoda gave me about 75 years ago."

"What?" he snapped sullenly, taking his lightsaber from her spiked tail and clipping it in one smooth motion to his belt.

Ashanti's tail looped in amusement at his sullen tone, telling him she wasn't taking his pique seriously. "Go to the most calming room for you in the Temple, lock the door so no one will disturb you and think. Think about everything. Ponder the worlds you have seen, the people you have helped and befriended, the memories of those you think you've failed and come to the rather obvious conclusion that if you had truly failed, you would be dead and no one would mourn your passing."

Her hand touched his cheek reverently. "People will mourn your passing, Qui-Gon. Gemma, Fleph, Wilse, Clea, Yoda." She gave him a comforting smile. "Me." She shook herself from the temporary melancholy and gave him a shove toward the door. "Now get moving. I'm tired of feeling your brooding self through the Force."

"I do not brood," Qui-Gon told her through clenched teeth, his mind reeling with her words and his pride smarting a bit.

"Brooding, moping, being grouchy, whatever. Just follow my advice for once in your pitiful existence." Ashanti gave him a wink and pushed him ahead of her as they left the arena. Ki-Adi was waiting for her down the hall and Qui-Gon exchanged a nod with the other knight. Rumor had it that Ki-Adi-Mundi had lost a padawan as well to the dark side, but Qui-Gon wasn't up to a chat about it.

"I'll have you know I listened to everything you ever told me and that's why I'm continually in trouble," he declared.

"Gripe, gripe, get moving. Find me when you get done." Her voice softened from her harassing tones. "Trust in yourself, Qui-Gon, and you might be surprised at what you learn."

She turned and left with Ki-Adi without a backward glance.

* * *

Qui-Gon found himself in his favorite room in the Temple, the star map room. Here, with just a touch, the knowledge and information about hundreds of worlds and civilizations were at his disposal. It humbled him to know that surely, on all these worlds before him, someone, somewhere was feeling the same pain that he was. It brought him to ground and gave him enough comfort to slip into deep meditation.

And meditate he did. Deep within the Force he went, searching for fault, for explanations, for peace. He found some of all three, enough that when he emerged from meditation some four hours later, he felt refreshed and somewhat at peace with himself.

* * *

Ashanti had worn a trench in the Council's private chamber room where they gathered to relax. As Yoda's guest, Ashanti was a welcome addition to their cozy room, despite her current tempestuous mood. Her worry over her former padawan learner was obvious and the Council offered their support to one of whom they were fond.

Her constant pacing, however, was irritating Yoda. "Calm self, please, Ashanti," Yoda consoled in a firm voice. "Stronger than he thinks, he is."

Ashanti nodded dejectedly.

"Protect him forever from ills of universe you cannot, no more than I can any of you." Yoda gestured to the masters around the room. Though Ashanti was 150 years old and easily older than some of the shorter lived masters in the room, she was still young by her species' estimation. Yoda eclipsed them all, the oldest Jedi known. His wisdom was sought after and proved right more often than wrong. Time had made him cynical yet still optimistic. Ashanti knew that such a demeanor was often called wisdom.

He held all his students in high regard, whether he personally trained them or not. They were all his in some fashion.

"His pain, Master," whispered Ashanti brokenly.

"Was no greater than yours many years ago," reminded Yoda gently, adjusting himself in his chair so he could slide to the floor. She felt his comforting hand on her shoulder and her long tail wound it's way around his waist. The Council sat there quietly, observing as master and former apprentice comfort each other.

"But it's not right," she said brokenly, using the strong bond that still existed between them to speak privately. "Not then and not now. Pride in oneself is usually considered a good thing. It instills confidence and self-respect."

"Ah, but what is the Force to us then? Does the Force not give us that confidence?" Yoda asked her gently.

Ashanti shook her head stubbornly. "We've had this argument before. Your peers and society bears some responsibility."

"But for Jedi it is the way of the Force, Ashanti. It creates it's own path, it's own dictates. We only follow it, not society." Yoda' voice rebuked softly, but he knew she already understood. He was just reminding her.

"In an ideal world, my master." Ashanti grimaced. "I know, but when you ignore that it's not an ideal world and ego blocks good sense, the pain you cause yourself as the natural result is horrible."

"This I know well. All Jedi go through this in some fashion or another. Some extreme. Some minute. All feel it, and most learn from it. Those who do not are not Jedi for long." Yoda's words did not sound comforting but Ashanti found great comfort in them.

"We are not alone," she stated out loud. The Council, in one loud voice, agreed with this.

Qui-Gon stood at the door, unannounced, and listened to the conversations in the huge room. He had never been in this chamber before, this break room of sorts for the Council. He had merely followed Ashanti's Force trace and discovered her here.

Two masters were quietly considering hunting down Xanatos and bring him in for being an accomplice of war crimes on the boy's home planet. Another three were just contemplating hunting the boy down and killing him, whispering to each other. After all, one didn't destroy a man like Jinn easily, a Malastarian Jedi master stated. Jinn's strength in the Force was legendary.

Qui-Gon swallowed at the words. Their import wasn't lost on him. He had worth in their eyes. Ashanti didn't boast of his quick intelligence for nothing.

His attention was centered again on Ashanti a moment later when she stood up and shook her funk off in one body-twisting shudder. The legendary Even Piell was patting her back and was staring right at Qui-Gon. The younger man straightened his shoulders and bowed to the Council, whose attention shifted suddenly to him.

"May I enter?" he asked. It was rhetorical. He was already in the room after all.

Yoda waved him in, patting his kneecap, the highest point the small being could reach as Qui-Gon stopped in front of Ashanti and the wizened master. Ridiculous though it looked the comfort was appreciated. Ashanti was giving him anxious looks. He gave her a jaunty smile, feeling it deep in his soul and her anxiety melted away.

"All is well?" she murmured.

"Yes. All is well." Her smile shone brightly. "Thank you, Master." He bowed to her respectfully, knowing she'd understand the gesture despite the fact it wasn't her way. "Hajii Kalumn is lucky, as was I."

Ashanti sniffled and then straightened her shoulders. "If you worry me like that again, I'll take you across my knee!" she reprimanded him. Qui-Gon didn't even blink at the sudden surge of personality change from her, as the other masters did. Her unpredictability was easy to maneuver around.

"Yes, Ashanti, I promise I won't do that again."

She eyed him suspiciously for a moment. "Just be sure of that. I don't want to hurt you, Qui-Gon, but I mean what I said. I'm too old for that heartrending nonsense."

Everyone looked at Yoda, who was well passed his 800th birthday. Yoda's ears twitched in amusement but he refrained from commenting on the ludicrous statement. Ashanti Vende was Ashanti. Not much could be done about it, he'd learned from a century and a half of experience.

"Mission we have for you, Qui-Gon," Yoda rumbled, getting things back to a normal pace. "Take your mind off troubles it will. Quite the puzzler." Yoda glanced at Ashanti, who hadn't moved. "Out, Ashanti. You have mission. Take padawan and get out of Council's hair. Like big irritating fly you are."

Ashanti stuck her tongue out at her former master as she left the room.

Qui-Gon smiled to himself and turned his attention to the diminutive master as he outlined Qui-Gon's next progression as a Jedi knight.

* * *

Almost ten years later

"He's taken a new padawan?" Ashanti sounded pleased.

Yoda sighed. She was going to be hell to live with for the next two years. She'd been a bear when she learned about Clea, and Xanatos still wasn't worth mentioning. It would just set her off on a tangent again.

"His name?" Ashanti clamored for more information.

Yoda's annoyance at her nosiness was evident over the holographic communications array. "Obi-Wan Kenobi. Good student. Took effort to get Qui-Gon to see that, though. Your stubbornness I sense in him. Need that he does not. Plenty of his own."

Ashanti grinned arrogantly. "Why, Master Yoda, that's the best compliment you've ever given me." Yoda snorted. "He will be a good padawan? He won't disappoint Qui-Gon by betraying such hard won trust?" demanded Ashanti.

"I see no such disappointment imminent." Yoda's tone held some doubt.

"Uh-huh, I know that voice. Convince me." Ashanti was immediately suspicious.

"Let Qui-Gon convince you," retorted Yoda. "Not my job."

Ashanti gave him another grin and bowed with a saucy bent to her motion. "You are wise as ever, Master."

"You full of it as usual, Ashanti," Yoda told her with a fond smile. "In three days time you here for Hajii's trials."

"Yes, we'll be here, but if he continues to bounce off the walls as he does now, I can't say what condition he'll be in." Hajii stopped his bounding around the room. The 22-year-old padawan was young but he had confronted the darkness within himself with aplomb and a determination to rid himself of it.

He succeeded, with flying colors, if there was such a thing in the Force.

Yoda grunted, his right ear lower than his left. "Good. See you soon, Ashanti, Hajii."

"Master." The two spoke as one and Ashanti gave Hajii's hair a good rumple. "You," she informed him with great asperity, "are no longer going to be my problem."

Hajii grinned. "Shouldn't I be the one saying that?"

"Saying what?" Ashanti gave him a suspicious look.

"That you will no longer be my problem." Hajii stuck his tongue out at her and bolted for the door, hoping that her reaction time would be cut down somewhat.

He should have known better. In minutes he was in peals of laughter as Ashanti's tail lightly tickled him and her hands held him still.

"You've still to learn humility," she informed him with a grin.

"I have all the humility taught to me by my master."

"Ingrate."

"Yes, Ashanti. I learned from the best."

* * *

-One week later-

"WOO-HOO!" Hajii's yell of jubilation resounded in the background and Qui-Gon had to suppress a smile.

Ashanti turned to glare at her off-screen former padawan. "He's way too happy about this."

"After his first mission, that will change," predicted Qui-Gon, sharing a grin with his former master.

She grunted, a grunt very similar to her own master, Yoda. "How is your new padawan? Yoda refused to give me the dope on him. Said I had to badger you for it." She raised a bronze eyebrow and her teal eyes widened in expectation. "Spill it."

Qui-Gon motioned Obi-Wan over, the boy's wide blue/grey eyes showing his nervousness. "Talk to him yourself. Be nice, both of you." He shoved the boy forward.

Obi-Wan lifted his chin in an unconscious gesture of defiance, refusing to show his intimidation. Everyone had heard of Ashanti Vende's wild behavior. That she had trained Qui-Gon was more than Obi-Wan could fathom. Qui-Gon could be so stuffy at times. Stuffy was never a word used to describe his master's master.

"Master Ashanti." Obi-Wan bowed. "You wished to speak with me?"

"Are you well-behaved?"

"Ashanti!" snapped Qui-Gon from behind Obi-Wan.

"What? It's a perfectly sound question! I don't want you raising someone with no manners!" Ashanti looked outraged at being rebuked, but both humans could see the glint of mischief in her eyes.

"If anyone is lacking in manners, it's you." Obi-Wan took a chance and hoped that he wouldn't get his ears boxed for it.

Ashanti's eyes widened in surprise and then she gave a hoot of laughter. "Okay, he passes the test. Anyone that can rebuke me like that deserves to have you as a master."

Qui-Gon wasn't sure that was a compliment or an insult. "Is that good or bad?"

Ashanti's expression told him the interpretation was up to him. She wasn't going to clarify. Qui-Gon watched with great amusement as Hajii's profile pushed itself in front Ashanti long enough to gloat, "I passed! My first mission is in two weeks!"

"Congratulations," Obi-Wan said with no little admiration.

"Yes, good luck." Qui-Gon didn't get his well wishing said before Ashanti's tail shoved Hajii out of the way.

"Hey! I'm talking here!" Ashanti glowered at her former padawan again.

"No," Hajii corrected off-screen and no doubt out of tail reach, "you were interrogating."

Qui-Gon gave a snort of laughter and turned away. Obi-Wan was looking half-green with worry and half-appalled. Ashanti gave the human boy a hard look. "You aren't…stuffy, are you? You have to be flexible to work with Qui-Gon, you know. He's very unpredictable. Unyeilding too. Why, I remember the time on Ufric Gamma when he…"

"Anyway, now that you've approved my padawan, not that we needed it mind you," Qui-Gon interrupted, hoping Ashanti wouldn't continue the rather embarrassing tale of his first major growth spurt and a low tree branch that inspired an incident that almost got them killed, "is there anything further you have to communicate or are you just looking to waste time now?"

Ashanti gave her first padawan a considering look and then grinned. She concentrated and before Qui-Gon could stop her, she bounced a message through their link, which awesomely transmitted itself to Obi-Wan through the two human males' bond. "I'll tell ya later. You'll love it."

Qui-Gon inwardly groaned.

The nightmare was beginning.

Again.

Clea still loved to rag him about his youthful adventures (from Ashanti's point of view, of course). He dreaded the time when Clea would be meeting Obi-Wan. The boy probably wouldn't recover from the shock. Qui-Gon was sure he wouldn't survive the humiliation.

"Ah, is the little padawan all huffy because his family's gonna give away his big bad secrets?"

"Don't make me hurt you, Ashanti." Qui-Gon warned her mentally in response to her mental torture. Ashanti merely grinned rakishly at him through the holo-screen. "Anything else?"

"Oh, thought I'd tell you. I'm considering on taking a leave of absence here in a month and bring in about a dozen Titainien students to the Temple." Ashanti's expression was pure innocence. Qui-Gon couldn't suppress a shudder. Hajii made gagging sounds in the background. "What do you think, Obi-Wan?"

Obi-Wan looked trapped. "Uh..."

"Good answer. You'll be perfect for Qui-Gon. That's about the limit to his vocabulary as well."

Qui-Gon gave her a smile. "Good-bye, Ashanti." He leaned past Obi-Wan to shut the screen off.

"But I haven't asked him about ..." Ashanti's face blipped off the screen as it went black.

Obi-Wan sagged in relief. Qui-Gon gave his padawan an amused glance when he saw the youth wasn't looking at him. "She's…different, Master," Obi-Wan strangled out. Qui-Gon contained his amusement.

"Yes, she's rather spectacular, isn't she?" Qui-Gon held the bait out but Obi-Wan refused to bite. If anything the boy looked ill at the thought of Ashanti being 'spectacular'.

"Uh..." Obi-Wan turned away, not wanting to laugh in front of Qui-Gon. He didn't want to hurt his master's feeling and allow the older man to think that he was laughing at a great master like Ashanti. She looked like she would have been a fun master to have, even if Ashanti was as exasperating as Qui-Gon seemed to indicate every once in awhile.

"Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon's voice held a touch of laughter and Obi-Wan responded to it.

"Yes, Master Qui-Gon?"

"She was pulling our legs, you know. She was very pleased that I had taken another padawan. She knew how great the pain was that I went through with Xanatos and has been pestering me for sometime to get another padawan, to prove to myself that I could still be a good master to someone deserving of my teaching."

Obi-Wan was flabbergasted. "You mean, she called…" The boy couldn't finish. He was laughing too hard.

"Yes," Qui-Gon finished his laughing padawan's sentence with his own chuckle. "She was calling to say, 'I told you so'."

* * *

Ashanti was laughing so hard that Hajii had to turn the screen off. He too was laughing and soon the two of them were paralyzed with their humor.  
"The poor boy!" sputtered Hajii. "Does he have any idea what he's gotten himself into?" Hajii took a breath, saw his master's wry grimace and fell into another fit of laughter. Ashanti followed him.

Mace Windu peered into the Council's private communications room to see what the noise was all about. He backed out when he saw Ashanti and her padawan. 'Former padawan,' he corrected himself. Whatever the two were laughing about, it was surely funny.

And contagious. He found himself smiling and chuckling as he continued down the hall.

Idly he wondered if this was what Qui-Gon went through normally being trained by the unpredictable Ashanti Vende. All play and no work.

How did the man ever become the knight he was? Mace shook his head. It was a puzzle but there had to be a method to Ashanti's madness, for Yoda sang her praises when she wasn't within hearing distance.

Ashanti stopped her giggling and took a deep breath. Her head turned to her still giggling former padawan. "Well, you're a knight now and I must loose you on the galaxies, poor unsuspecting beings. Are you ready?"

Hajii looked at his master, his eyes warm yet serious. "Yes, Master, I am more ready that I have ever been." She beamed at him.

"You were a good apprentice and will be an even better knight. It's good to know that I've trained two knights that will have such a good influence on the Order in the future." Ashanti poked him in the ribs. "I have to leave for my first mission without you in four hours. How about dinner?"

Hajii wrinkled his nose. "You aren't cooking, are you?"

Ashanti sighed and shook her head. "My next padawan," she muttered, "will be normal."

Hajii gave a snort of disbelief.

Qui-Gon, lightyears away, caught the words mentally and gave a shudder. A normal padawan? He looked at Obi-Wan, who was currently tracing odd pictures on a dusty shelf in their rather primitive quarters. Qui-Gon snorted as well.

He doubted there was such a thing coming from Ashanti's teaching lineage.


End file.
